Like many projects here, this started as something I built for myself. I shared it with a few friends, and it grew from there.
MeetNewBooks is a book recommendation app—a "find your next read" tool rather than a book tracking app.
How it works:
By Title: Enter a book you enjoyed, and we’ll suggest similar books. Depending on the book, you may see a mix of recommendations based on themes, genres, or tropes—combined with what other readers have enjoyed.
Search by Keywords (Genre, Theme, Trope): Browse recommendations using filters like "epic fantasy," "coming of age," or "billionaire romances." No vectors or embeddings—just a straightforward Elasticsearch implementation.
Suggestions Based on Recent Browsing: After you’ve looked at a few books, we’ll recommend others based on your browsing history. A "bulb" icon in the top right corner will show these suggestions.
Personalized Recommendations (free, but requires signup): Save and rate books, and we’ll tailor suggestions as soon as we have enough books to work with. We also compare your shelves with other readers to surface books you might love. If you don’t like a recommendation, you can mark it (or the author) as "Not Interested," and we’ll refresh your list.
There are no quizzes or questionnaires to fill out. And while this isn’t a book tracking app, many users have requested those features, so I’ve been gradually adding them.
We also have iOS and Android apps. I’d love to hear your feedback!
As a side note—after years of working on enterprise software with grumpy traders, it’s been a joy to build something for people who love reading as much as I do. Users report bugs, suggest features, and have been incredibly patient as I work through the backlog.
